Nail head leads are conventionally packed by the lead manufacturer in envelopes of plastic film or plastic bottles or other containers and then shipped to the manufacturer who uses them in the manufacture of electronic devices.
The electronic device manufacturer removes the leads from the shipping containers, orients them, if necessary, and places them as discrete leads, by hand, into the compartments of a fixture, (herein called a "loading fixture"). The loading fixture, filled with leads, is attached to a transfer plate, having a large number of holes therein, each of which is formed so as to receive one nail head lead. The holes are aligned with the compartments of the loading fixture so that, when the loading fixture loaded with leads is attached to a transfer plate and the fixture and plate shaken together, as a unit, the leads in the compartments will pass into the holes of the transfer plate, until each hole in the transfer plate will be filled with a single lead, with all leads oriented in one direction. Enough leads are placed in the compartments of the loading fixture to fill all the holes of several transfer plates.
The transfer plate, with all the holes therein filled with nail head leads, is then placed on and secured to one part of a two part carbon plate or boat fixture, each part of which (upper and lower) has a large number of holes therein, each of which corresponds to one of the holes in the transfer plate. A transfer plate, loaded with leads, is placed on and secured to one of the two parts of the carbon boat fixture and the two may be shaken if necessary until all the leads in the transfer plate are transferred to the holes in part of the carbon boat fixture secured thereto. This procedure is repeated with the other part of the carbon boat fixture, and another transfer plate loaded with leads as before. The two parts of the carbon boat fixture (upper and lower) both loaded with leads, are put together with the heads on the leads opposing and with the capacitors, diodes, etc., interposed between the heads. The leads may be coated with solder and/or its equivalent may be placed at the junctions or interfaces so that when the final assembly is heated the leads and the electronic components therebetween will all be mechanically and electrically connected by the fused solder.
The two parts of the carbon boat fixture normally are made from carbon because after being loaded with the leads, the electronic devices, solder, etc., they must be heated to fuse the solder and thus secure all the components together. The loading fixtures and the transfer plates have in the past been made entirely of metal. The compartments of the loading fixture have in the past been loaded with leads by hand, by the electronic device manufacturer after the nail head leads are removed from their shipping containers.